My GT350R will likely be my last Ford car.

[SVTSNAKE351]

:lol::ford:It don't matter. Things happens sometimes. The mustang will live on without you. C yaaaaaa!

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[ThreeFiveO]

Reminds me of my 1994 z28 6 speed I paid $19k for. I affectionately called it “4 wheels and a motor”. Not a luxury vehicle but ran like a bat out of hell for it’s era. Bang for the buck!

 

[offcamber]

The S550 in all its flavors has the same quality across the range when it comes to fit and finish. Agreed that the level of quality is middle of the road and sometimes less.

The more you pay for your S550 the more likely you are to being disappointed in that lack of attention to detail. I think bang for buck its a hard platform to beat.

With the S550 you save on initial purchase and long term ownership costs in general.
Porsche, Alfa Romeo and other Euro sport cars are costly up front and long term.

I think the best choice for fit/finish and hands-off long term ownership is probably a Lexus RCF. It has no soul and no history but should run forever.

I would consider the Vette Z51 if I were leaving Ford.

 

[Hack]

Porsche, Alfa Romeo and other Euro sport cars are costly up front and long term.

Very true, but possibly the most important thing to some is that there is a good amount of status associated with some European brands. And I would be willing to bet that many of the European car brands look awesome at car shows.

I will say that I would love to own a Porsche. However, I have trouble justifying a purchase because I just don't feel they are a performance bargain. I don't earn enough to be unconcerned about value. I will settle for my Ford.

 

[Strokerswild]

The S550 in all its flavors has the same quality across the range when it comes to fit and finish. Agreed that the level of quality is middle of the road and sometimes less.

The more you pay for your S550 the more likely you are to being disappointed in that lack of attention to detail.

Nailed it, IMO.

I had a '11 VW Tiguan 4Motion (purchased late 2010) in the fleet that was the wife's DD and also took the brunt of general running around on weekends and such. The thing was still an anvil after nearly 8 years including our lovely MN winters. Panel gaps and paint were still near perfect, no rattles, no issues, just gas, oil and tires. Planned to replace it with something else next year (wasn't sure what but an Escape was high on the list), and ran across a leftover '17 Tiguan 4Motion for $19K two weeks ago. And guess what? Build quality is as good as the '11 (paint is absolutely perfect), and it's improved over the old one in many other aspects such as road noise. They're little, well-built tanks.

No reason why Ford can't achieve this, my S550 could only dream of the same level of build quality. Uneven panel alignment and grind marks visible under the paint in a couple of spots, interior rattles at 2K miles, etc. Ford can't use their old tagline "Quality is Job 1" anymore for good reason.

 

[J_Maher_AMG]

I said the same to Minn19. Unfortunately, the way markets work, how affordable the car is to people have very little to do with this. What has to do with this is the average price of all sports cars or average price of regular cars. And in that respect, $60,000 isnt that much money. There are handful of sports cars at or around $60,000. In fact the only car I know below that is BMW M2. All other sports cars are above that price, way above in fact. Also for $60,000, you cant buy an average SUV like an X5. I consider it average because at high end you have cayenne costing as much as $150,000 and on low end you have forrester costing $25,000. $60,000 is still way below the median. I understand its a lot. But Ford is a company that has to go with profit and cost of production.

Your views on what is "average" is so skewed it isn't even funny.

Are you seriously stating an AVERAGE SUV is an X5? So for every Rav 4 or Crosstrek sold, there is a Cayenne or Range Rover sold as well? The median price means absolutely jack shit when there are thousands of vehicles sold at a lower price point compared to a handful at a higher price point.

Case in point, the VAST majority of people would consider $60,000 to be a lot of money. Hell, based on your logic, I guess the AVERAGE income of a household in the US must be astronomical considering there are those making hundreds of millions per year right?

Most flawed logic/argument I have seen on here to date.

 

[Minn19]

From what I see some people are very into the aesthetics of the car - more so than the performance of it. There's nothing wrong with that and I can understand if aesthetics and fit/finish are your top priorities that the GT350 could irritate you.



I'm with you, but like you performance is higher on my list than aesthetics. And performance for the dollar is very important for me.

Some people in this thread keep saying for XXX dollars a car shouldn't have this or that issue. For the price, this car also shouldn't have a FPC 8k rpm engine. And THAT is why I bought the GT350 - for the engine. I didn't buy the GT350 because I wanted perfect panel fit. And the engine does NOT disappoint. :ford:

I understand that some people want to have their car look perfect at a car show and that's very important to them. My biggest thrill has been outrunning trailered, purpose built cars at the track. I haven't taken my GT350 to a single car show. I think customs and rare restored cars are cool at car shows, but I don't understand showing a relatively new car. There's nothing interesting about it to me. Different strokes for different folks. :cheers:

Agreed and I am somewhere in the middle. I'm not interested in taking mine to a car show either (you know how I use mine), but it is 2018 and I think it is reasonable to expect almost any car today to have straight panels. Forget the price, I would think engineering a fastener that can hold a panel in place for longer then a year or getting them straight at the factory should've been figured out quite a while ago. Especially from the company that made the automobile a worldwide fixture.

I would think it would behoove Ford to up there quality just a bit to basic standards such as these. Not to mention helping clean up their dealer issues etc. They got so many crossover buyers into Ford showrooms looking at all of their products, not just the GT350. Many will not return again for who knows how long after either their dealer experience or poor quality etc with the GT350. A BMW M4 starts 68,700 (that includes most basic maintenance up to 50k miles and higher build quality, but still not perfect) and can be had with big discounts making it inline with a GT350 price. So I'm not buying the the Ford can't do xyz because of price argument. They are only hurting themselves in an obviously very competitive business climate in the long wrong across the board with these issues.

 

[MrCincinnati]

From what I see some people are very into the aesthetics of the car - more so than the performance of it. There's nothing wrong with that and I can understand if aesthetics and fit/finish are your top priorities that the GT350 could irritate you.



I'm with you, but like you performance is higher on my list than aesthetics. And performance for the dollar is very important for me.

Some people in this thread keep saying for XXX dollars a car shouldn't have this or that issue. For the price, this car also shouldn't have a FPC 8k rpm engine. And THAT is why I bought the GT350 - for the engine. I didn't buy the GT350 because I wanted perfect panel fit. And the engine does NOT disappoint. :ford:

I understand that some people want to have their car look perfect at a car show and that's very important to them. My biggest thrill has been outrunning trailered, purpose built cars at the track. I haven't taken my GT350 to a single car show. I think customs and rare restored cars are cool at car shows, but I don't understand showing a relatively new car. There's nothing interesting about it to me. Different strokes for different folks. :cheers:

I watched the Savage Geese review on the R a few times before I bought mine. He covers the build quality etc and makes it clear what you’re getting. Take all the aesthetic issues. Even take the A/C issue. Not really huge concerns of mine individually or combined. However - once you introduce the insecurity of wondering when the motor will blow and knowing you’re risking $20k or more by keeping it outside of warranty — the I bought it for the motor notion (that I also share with you and others) becomes questionable. Sure - I can buy an extended warranty for this world class motor... or plan on throwing a new block in at some point as part of the cost of ownership. But it certainly wasn’t something I planned on when I signed on the line for this car. Cheap paint was.

 

[Tank]

I agree with you. But put it this way.

It's like a hooker. she's not the prettiest, she does not know how to put good makeup on, her dress is not really matching her, and you would think twice before asking her out.

But man, when you do it, and stretch her *wings*, it's like nothing you have ever experienced before. It all becomes a blur. Nothing. Else. Matters.

I feel the need to take a shower after reading this one...
I might call my PCP for some penicillin

 

[300blackout]

I watched the Savage Geese review on the R a few times before I bought mine. He covers the build quality etc and makes it clear what you’re getting. Take all the aesthetic issues. Even take the A/C issue. Not really huge concerns of mine individually or combined. However - once you introduce the insecurity of wondering when the motor will blow and knowing you’re risking $20k or more by keeping it outside of warranty — the I bought it for the motor notion (that I also share with you and others) becomes questionable. Sure - I can buy an extended warranty for this world class motor... or plan on throwing a new block in at some point as part of the cost of ownership. But it certainly wasn’t something I planned on when I signed on the line for this car. Cheap paint was.

That was well said. After reading all these posts my take away is that there are many gt350s that meet owners' expectations (on overall quality/fit/finish) and many did not, while the performance exceeded everyone's expectations.

As such I still want one and I'm currently waiting for a 2019 hoping some of these kinks are further ironed out (fingers crossed). I plan on leasing initially. IF the motor doesn't blow after my lease is up I may decided to keep it. If it does..it's then Ford's problem.

 

[cosmo]

That was well said. After reading all these posts my take away is that there are many gt350s that meet owners' expectations (on overall quality/fit/finish) and many did not, while the performance exceeded everyone's expectations.

As such I still want one and I'm currently waiting for a 2019 hoping some of these kinks are further ironed out (fingers crossed). I plan on leasing initially. IF the motor doesn't blow after my lease is up I may decided to keep it. If it does..it's then Ford's problem.

That's a good synopsis. The quality doesn't meet the price (generally), the engine/performance/character certainly does, but the engine reliability is a bit of a question mark and makes some feel uncomfortable.

I will likely be selling my '17 to a friend for a '19, and will be speaking with some birdies in the industry for if any changes are being made for '19 that will smooth my concerns over.

 

[Zitrosounds]

That was well said. After reading all these posts my take away is that there are many gt350s that meet owners' expectations (on overall quality/fit/finish) and many did not, while the performance exceeded everyone's expectations.

As such I still want one and I'm currently waiting for a 2019 hoping some of these kinks are further ironed out (fingers crossed). I plan on leasing initially. IF the motor doesn't blow after my lease is up I may decided to keep it. If it does..it's then Ford's problem.

You can lease a GT350 now? Are you sure?

 

[MrCincinnati]

You can lease a GT350 now? Are you sure?

You can, probably not through FMC. And it’s probably a horrible lease compared to a purchase.

 

[Minn19]

You can lease a GT350 now? Are you sure?

You can, probably not through FMC. And it’s probably a horrible lease compared to a purchase.

You always could, my dealer finance guy ran one through FMC for S's n giggles and it was brutal. It made no sense so I obviously just bought it, which is what I planned doing anyway. That was two years ago so things could have obviously changed in that time frame.

 

[300blackout]

I will likely be selling my '17 to a friend for a '19, and will be speaking with some birdies in the industry for if any changes are being made for '19 that will smooth my concerns over.

Would you lease initially or buy?

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